Forging of metal
Filed accounts
NACE 25401 · financial year 2025 · 387 filed annual accounts| Per financial year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median solvency | 40.5% | 39.0% | 39.9% | 42.4% | 44.4% | 47.4% |
| Median net result | €15,276 | €15,241 | €18,290 | €17,224 | €16,218 | €18,177 |
Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark
Bankruptcies
Recent bankruptcies
| Date | Company |
|---|---|
| 05-11-2026 | STAALBOUW VERELST
BE 0426.609.265 |
| 09-10-2026 | R&F CONSTRUCT
BE 0467.063.413 |
| 26-05-2026 | Boone-Metaal
BE 1021.195.214 |
| 29-04-2026 | NOKKELE
BE 0760.349.049 |
| 02-01-2026 | Lenaerts Group
BE 0740.486.023 |
| 26-09-2025 | Robin Lemaire
BE 0607.948.389 |
| 23-06-2025 | Labat, Laurent
BE 0840.095.323 · sole trader · Seraing |
| 04-12-2024 | Carlier, Grégory
BE 0892.423.457 · sole trader · Namur |
Spread across the country
by region and province · 480 of 961 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat- Flanders
- Wallonia
- Brussels
- Abroad
The balance sheets of division 25 on the map, by municipality and down to the address
Largest employers
NACE 25401 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts- 1 ASBL Metalgroup ETACharleroi 172 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 2 DEVOS PLAATBEWERKINGENWingene 63.7 FTEfinancial year 2026
- 3 Vermeir Lansen MontageLebbeke 53.3 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 4 STAHL - UND APPARATEBAU HUPPERTZSaint-Vith 35.7 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 5 STAALBOUW VERELSTPutte 34.2 FTEfinancial year 2024
Joint committees
from the latest accounts of 149 companies- 111 Metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 116
- 209 White-collar workers in metal manufacturing 79
- 124 Construction 9
- 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 6
- 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 1
- 102 Quarries 1
- 116 Chemical industry 1
- 140.03 Road transport and logistics for third parties 1
Show the 5 others
- 149.04 Metal trade 1
- 201 Independent retail 1
- 207 White-collar workers in the chemical industry 1
- 226 White-collar workers in international trade, transport and logistics 1
- 302 Hotels and catering 1
Source: the annual accounts at the National Bank. One filing can name more than one committee.
Division 25: Fabricated metal products
Related activities
1 other activity| Activity | Registrations | Starters, 12 months | Bankruptcies, 12 months | FTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment25402 | 147 | 11 | 2 | 1,142 |
Bankruptcies per year in division 25
| Per year | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bankruptcies | 101 | 82 | 72 | 86 | 78 | 56 | 47 | 111 | 103 | 82 | 93 | 75 |
| Jobs lost | 617 | 314 | 414 | 476 | 472 | 227 | 211 | 322 | 532 | 349 | 318 | 297 |
2026 through September. Every bankruptcy, also of companies that have since left the register. Source: Statbel (Directorate-General Statistics), NACE classification of 2008.
Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 25
1,465 employers| Size | Median | Middle half | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| fewer than 10 FTE | €59,500 | €49,700 to €69,200 | 706 |
| 10 to 49 FTE | €65,600 | €57,300 to €74,800 | 619 |
| 50 to 249 FTE | €70,200 | €63,900 to €79,800 | 119 |
| 250 FTE or more | €83,600 | €77,100 to €95,300 | 21 |
Employers with the highest staff cost per FTE in this division All sectors by staff cost In the Analysis workbench
Running bankruptcies in the sector
NACE division 25Measured nationally: Of 108,562 bankruptcies of legal entities across Belgium, 49% were closed within five years for insufficient assets and 28% after liquidation, 3% were withdrawn. After five years, 20% were still open. Half had ended after 26 months (a quarter after 15, three quarters after 51 months).
This counts companies with this main activity in the register on 6 November 2026. The outcome itself is not measured by sector. The activity of a company that leaves the register after its bankruptcy is too often not kept to compare closed cases fairly.
49 of the 5,921 companies in NACE division 25 have a parent company abroad. Main parent countries: Netherlands (12), Germany (7) and France (7). Together they employ 5,467 of the division's 41,709 FTE: 13%, against 14% for Belgium as a whole.
Subsidies in this sector
per register · legal entities with an enterprise number- Flemish subsidies €48.1m awarded
- Federal transfers 35.0m amount as published
- EU budget €63.2m attributed share
- EU research €16.8m EU contribution
Insights on Forging of metal
Balance sheet and result. 8.0% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium. 21.4% of the annual accounts close with a loss, against 26.7% in Belgium. Return on equity of 13.3% is below Belgium's 15.9%.
Bankruptcies. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.4% is above Belgium's 0.2%.
Inflow and structure. Half of the companies are younger than 13.2 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium. In 12 months, 3.7 of 100 companies started, against 8.9 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 83% of the 87 NACE divisions. Wallonia holds 34.9% of the seats, against 22.7% in Belgium.
Staff and filing. The 5 largest employers hold 359 of the 892 FTE: 40.3%.
Direction. Median solvency rose from 40.5% in financial year 2020 to 47.4% in financial year 2025. The median net result rose from €15,276 in financial year 2020 to €18,177 in financial year 2025.
The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 06-11-2026 05:30.
Method and sources
Every company registered today counts under its main activities in the KBO. Establishment units do not count. Staff counts once, under the employer's first main activity, from its latest accounts and only where it fits the staff costs. The count follows the NACE 2025 classification, the version in which code 25401 exists.
The bankruptcies over five years count only companies still registered today, because the activity of a company that left the register is not kept. So they are fewer than the bankruptcies of those years, and the figure is not a probability for the future. Over twelve months the count is nearly complete, because a bankrupt company stays registered while its bankruptcy runs. A company with more than one main activity counts in each of those sectors.
The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other NACE divisions rests on an overview of every division, counted again each night. Each division is counted in the version of the NACE classification in which it exists. A standing such as "more than in 80%" compares with the other divisions that have the figure. A division's bankruptcy probability is the median over its companies with a score. Belgium here counts the 1,276,581 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 698,987 registrations publish no activity.
Each median is the value of the middle company, computed over the annual accounts of financial year 2025, and is shown only from 30 accounts. A share (loss-making, negative equity) counts that year's accounts with that trait. Accounts are late when they are filed after the statutory deadline. The direction per financial year follows the companies still registered today. Missing or 90 days late counts the companies with accounts missing today, or whose latest were filed more than 90 days after the deadline. The dossier follows the same rule.